completely nub, second opinion please

I'm a -complete- noob when it comes to water cooling. Never done it before, not highly researched it either. The reason i'm here at all is I keep having really bad luck with my case fans and motherboard fans where they break or bust a baring. I hate them. They drag in excess amounts of dust, are overly noisey and when they start go wrong they make the most awful noises.

My north bridge fan went not long ago and I couldnt find a replacement for my board (XFX 680i LT) so I had to get as near as I could from local store and ended up attaching the bloody thing with string. Yes, indeed. I still have not got around to ordering a properly fitting one from the net yet and I can now hear another fan breaking and making lovely grinding noises. Oh, and my pc crashes regular (even b4 north bridge went).

So anyway to cut to the chase I asked a friend of mine who's big on watercooling and WC's his own system to price me up for a WC system to cool my CPU and NB with the ultimate aim of getting rid of as many fans as possible. If it can help me overclock my Q6600 a little more then all the better. My pc case isnt an issue, its a huge thing designed with WC "if you want it" in mind - has holes for the tubes etc etc.

He specced me something around Â£175 -without- a pump as he has "a great pump worth around Â£80" spare I was going to use for the setup and give him some dosh for later. However i've seen alot of people talking on this forum of setups around a simular number but in dollars... and when turned into Â£ thats like Â£104 which seems a darn site cheaper especially considering the setups I was reading through the stickies etc had pumps. So I wanted to check with you guys about the setup.

I totally trust my friend 100% but its possible, as he did his system several years ago, thats hes not up to date on some things. For instance he insists every part must be EK but I found a thread here with people claiming EK parts leaked! But he says you must not scrimp and must go EK to *avoid* a leak.. confused. Parts list he came up with is:

Eh, personally my preferences on rads are either the XSPC RX series or HWLabs Black Ice Extreme. I haven't really heard much in terms of the EK CoolStream rads. Also, I think you can save some money if you get an XSPC Dual Bay res that can hold a pump, as you won't have to buy a top. Other than that, it's not bad.

EDIT: All the major companies (EK, XSPC, HWLabs, HeatKiller, etc.) all make quality components that won't leak. While EK is good, there are other alternatives out there that have similar performances for different price points.

Seems decent. I'd get a different radiator since EK isn't known for radiators. Generally it all depends on the fans you want to use. After picking the speed of fan you want look for the corresponding radiator with the lowest bar for that fan speed. Hardware Labs BI GTX and SR1 series rads have the highest quality finish overall. They're just amazing pieces of hardware. (sr1 for under 850 rpm and gtx for above 1500 rpm).

And don't be fooled by the dollar, good watercooling isn't cheap, but it can last a long time.

That stuff all looks great, and for a full custom look, that's pretty damned cheap. You'll have a very decent loop at the end of it imo.

Oh actually one thing, I would get the thicker hose (1/2" ID 3/4" OD) it looks better, kinks less and it'll probably cost the same anyway. (though there's nothing wrong specifically with the 5/8" OD hose, I just think the thicker walled varient is nicer )

Edit:
You don't have to get EK stuff, a watercooling company wouldn't be in business very long if they sold stuff that leaked, I have never had a watercooling component leak that wasn't my own error.Edited by Crabid - 5/24/11 at 4:13pm

Eugh, EK is good and all, but if you want to go a bit cheaper while keeping performance and quality, you can get an XSPC RX240 kit along with different tubing, a kill coil, that north bridge waterblock, and if you want, different rad fans. I'm sure going XSPC will save you a nice sum, sure you won't get all the EK bling out there, but who needs it, right? ^_^

XSPC is known for parts that just "get the job done" so if you can afford better you will be better off. EK has had problems recently with their nickel blocks so be weary of those ( the nickel flakes off). Koolance, dangerden, and aquacomputer also make great parts.

XSPC is known for parts that just "get the job done" so if you can afford better you will be better off. EK has had problems recently with their nickel blocks so be weary of those ( the nickel flakes off). Koolance, dangerden, and aquacomputer also make great parts.

I think you're definitely looking at far diminishing returns when you go from XSPC gear to EK etc. They will perform better, but marginally, and at much higher cost.